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updated 3:14 PM EDT, Fri October 10, 2014

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Wolf Blitzer's exclusive interview with Rand Paul will air in full on CNN's "The Situation Room" at 5 p.m. ET

(CNN) -- Sen. Rand Paul said Friday he doesn't want to "create panic" over Ebola, but stood by his belief that the virus is more contagious that the government is letting on.

"I understand people in government not wanting to create panic, and I don't want to create panic, either. But I think it's also a mistake on the other side of the coin to underplay the risk of this," the Kentucky Republican told CNN's Wolf Blitzer in an interview to air in full on "The Situation Room" at 5 p.m. ET.

Last week Paul, an ophthalmologist with a medical degree from Duke, expressed strong skepticism of the Obama administration's handling of Ebola. He called for the government to consider suspending flights to and from Ebola hot zones in Africa.

While flight changes have not been implemented, the government is starting to enforce closer screenings of West Africans at five of America's busiest airports.

Doubling down on his stance, Paul said he thinks temporary flight suspensions would be practical.

"I mean, if you want to visit your son or daughter and you're coming from Liberia, couldn't you wait a couple of months? I don't think that that is something so -- of such an immediate necessity that the chance for a worldwide contagion, I think it's not unreasonable," he said.

CDC director on Ebola: 'Only thing like this has been AIDS'

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Rand Paul to CNN: I don't want to 'create panic' over Ebola

U.S. Senator Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, speaks to students at the College of Charleston during a town hall meeting on September 30, 2014 in Charleston, South Carolina. Richard Ellis, Getty Images

After a meeting with African-American civil rights leaders in Ferguson, Missouri, on Friday, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, said the "biggest mistake" his party made in the last several decades was a failure to reach out to black voters.

In an interview on CNN, Paul said his meeting with leaders from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Urban League, and local business and faith leaders went "very well."

"I don't want to characterize how everybody else feels about what I said, but I think it was a good opening to the conversation," the senator explained. "I think in the Republican Party, the biggest mistake we've made in the last several decades is we haven't gone into the African-American community, into the NAACP and say you know what, we are concerned about what's going on in your cities and we have plans. They may be different than the Democrats, but we do have plans and we do want to help."

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A grand jury was expected to convene in Clayton, Mo. Wednesday to begin hearing evidence to determine whether Officer Darren Wilson should be cha...

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Attorney General Eric Holder announced Thursday that following his visit to Ferguson, Missouri, he believes the Justice Department needs to initi...

Ferguson was the site of furious protests throughout several weeks ago after a police officer shot and killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in August. The racially charged demonstrations pitted protesters against local law enforcement personnel, whose forceful response was condemned by critics as a case study in the excessive use of force.

Paul said that "sense of tension and unease" in black communities goes beyond just the reaction to Brown's death.

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Rand Paul: GOP's "biggest mistake" was not courting black voters

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul met with local NAACP leaders for breakfast in the heart of the tense suburb of Ferguson on Friday morning to talk about how he could help the community, according to one official in attendance.

The Kentucky Republican and likely 2016 presidential candidate, who has been a vocal opponent of the "militarization" of police with tactical equipment often supplied by the federal government, told attendees that the Republican Party had "left the African American community behind," said John Gaskin, a spokesman for the St. Louis County chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People.

The meeting came about at the request of Paul's office, which contacted NAACP officials in Washington asking about a visit to Ferguson, Gaskin told the Los Angeles Times.

"We had a very thought-provoking conversation to support our efforts on the ground," Gaskin said, with Paul talking about his idea for "economic freedom zones" that would reduce regulations in economically hard-hit cities such as Detroit.

"We can help advance your community," Gaskin quoted Paul as saying.

Gaskins recounting of Paul's remarks echoes previous statements on the party and the African American community.

A spokesman for Paul said the visit reflected the senator's "engagement of all groups."

"In the past year Sen. Paul has spoken at diverse places from UC Berkeley to Detroit and from Chicago to Silicon Valley. Sen. Paul will continue to engage every group in America'" said Sergio Gor.

Gaskin said Paul talked "very heavily" on the issue of police militarization, which had also drawn the scrutiny of Missouri's Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill.

Paul's visit comes as several law-and-order Missouri Democrats, at various levels, have come under local criticism since the Aug. 9 shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a Ferguson police officer. Some accused Gov. Jay Nixon of moving too slowly in the early days of unrest, and demonstrators have repeatedly asked longtime Democratic St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch to step aside as a grand jury investigates Ferguson officer Darren Wilson's role in the shooting. (Another demonstration was planned outside McCulloch's office on Friday afternoon.)

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Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul visits black leaders in Ferguson, Mo.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) made one of the boldest and most memorable statementson the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Mo., going a place members of his party wouldn'ttouch with a 10-foot pole.

Now, he's literally goneto the place -- as in, Ferguson -- where he's meeting with the NAACP, the Urban League and other church and business leaders about criminal justice.

A cynic would say that Paul, a likely 2016 presidential contender, is simply trying to expand his appeal.

That cynic wouldn't be entirely wrong.

I am a politician, and I do recognize that [Republicans]havent done very well with people who live in cities -- primarily African Americans -- and I do think we need to do better, he said in a phone interview from Ferguson. The thing I found is that you might interview 20 people, and you find that they are not ready to vote for a Republican yet, but they are interested in Republicans competing for their vote and showing up in their communities.

Paul has been on something of an urban America tour, meeting with leaders all over the country. He is the closest thing the GOP has to a race man, unafraid to put himself in the shoes of African Americans and to talk about disparities.

But at the same time, this is a relatively new effort for him. And for a guy who in his first campaign struggledwithquestions about the Civil Rights Act, thediscovery does coincide with his increasing national political ambitions.

"I think Ive discovered more of urban America from being elected than not being elected. I grew up in a small rural town, so from a firsthand experience, I wasn't as aware," he said. "But as a senator ... Ive tried to learn about problems that I frankly didnt know as much about. And as I met with community leaders, Ive discovered that there were things like many people didnt have the right to vote, and I wasnt aware of that. And since that time, Ive become more active in those issues."

But the education of Rand Paul is also about national politics, and it's likely hewill have an even bigger platform to speak to and about urban America come 2015 and early 2016. This couldpose challenges for his party and for Democrats, who seem to be focused on a different part of the Obama coalition.

Paul didn't want to speak about the specifics of the case in Ferguson, where a grand jury is still deciding whether to charge Darren Wilson, the officerwho shot and killed Michael Brown. But it's clear that what happened there will become an inflection point and a symbol long after the unrest is over and the case is decided.

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Rand Paul is in Ferguson. Heres why.

TIME Politics 2016 Election Rand Paul Visits Ferguson Ahead of Fresh Protests Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) speaks at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, Sept. 26, 2014. Doug MillsThe New York Times/Redux Paul is the first potential 2016 contender to visit the city

Sen. Rand Paul met with civil rights leaders Friday in Ferguson, Missouri, the city torn apart by racial unrest following the August shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer. During his visit, the Republican Senator, who is seen as a likely presidential candidate, stated his concerns about long prison sentences for nonviolent crimes, the loss of voting rights for felons and military programs to give unused equipment to local police departments.

I wanted to find out what we could do to make the situation better, Paul said of his visit Friday.

Given the racial disparities in our criminal justice system, it is impossible for African-Americans not to feel like their government is particularly targeting them, Paul wrote in an opinion piece for TIME this summer.

The meeting came just days after another young black man was shot by police in nearby St. Louis, after allegedly firing a stolen handgun at an officer. And it came on the eve of a weekend series of protests organized to keep national attention on the states issues.

Paul joined the leaders in the conference room of a real estate office across the street from an art installation Friday, where residents had tied ribbons to a metal fence with messages commemorating the protests that began in August after the shooting of 18-year-old African-American student Michael Brown. Paul arrived in town Thursday for a round table discussion at the Show Me Institute, a conservative think tank in St. Louis. That event, like the discussion with local and civil rights leaders in Ferguson, was not open to the press.

Fridays discussion was free-ranging, less a speech than a question and answer session. People at the event said that they remained concerned about the GOPs opposition to federal funding for job training and education and other social programs. Paul said that he would support increases in federal spending for job training in urban communities that could be paid for with cuts to the costs of incarceration. I think there would be money for job training if you greatly lessened criminal sentencing, he said.

They are also frustrated that things arent happening fast enough, Paul said after the meeting, which was organized by the NAACP.

Pauls trip to Fergusonthe first by a 2016 candidateis a reminder of how his position on criminal justice reform can make a Republican more palatable to the African-American community. As riots turned violent in Ferguson, Paul distinguished himself among Republicans by striking a more forceful tone in addressing the root of the protesters anger and putting forth potential solutions.

He is stumping like he should be trying to stump if he wants to run for President, said John Gaskin II, who participated in Fridays event.

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Rand Paul Visits Ferguson Ahead of Fresh Protests